Our summer vacation...1,650 miles in 6 days

When you tell most people that you are going on vacation, they immediately think of national parks, beaches, amusement parks, museums, resorts, etc. When you tell friends that don’t own a motorcycle that you are taking the vacation on the bike, most sort of wince and ask why. When you tell them that you are also going on vacation on the bike with three other couples, most people can’t even imagine the experience. Well Larry and I could and we waited impatiently for the months to tick away and it was finally time to leave. What a way to go!

We arrived at Sehome Starbucks, a favorite pre-arranged spot to gather for rides, have a cup of coffee to wake us up, and a last pit stop for about an hour. Dave and Lorie, Dave and Dawn, Bill and Marla, and Larry and I all had our bikes packed with rain gear, snacks, drinks, clothing, leathers, whatever you can get on your bikes and still ride it (for some of the women that included hair dryers and curling irons). We headed off at about 7:00 AM on August 19th for our first destination of Seaside Oregon.

We took the Keystone Ferry from Whidbey Island and rode down the Hood Canal in 90 degree weather. Just north of Raymond we stopped for lunch and after several minutes our server, who was a young college age male stopped and looked at Dave M. and said you are the “alpha male”. Now as my husband pointed out, probably all men who ride a Harley or participate in manly man sports, think of themselves as an alpha male, but there is always one who just stands out, and that would be our Dave M. I did however point out to him that in a pack of wolves it is not the alpha male who is the true leader, but the alpha female and that would be Lorie. Dave quickly jumped to a new topic as we smiled and laughed.

We slowly peeled off the layers of clothing as the day wore on and we rode south. Just before Astoria Oregon, we were glad we still had the jackets on, as the sea breeze whipped across the inlet making white caps across the water. A little evening traffic and tourists manipulating the roads and we arrived at the Sundowner Inn in Seaside. It was kickstands down and we quickly unpacked, showered, and moved our chairs outside where we gathered for a cold drink before dinner. We were only a block away from the main drag in town and the restaurant had a thirty minute wait so we walked down by the beach to watch all the bonfires that were being lit and fueled by young twenty-thirty somethings. We strolled down the other side of the street and browsed through a small art/gift shop before heading back to the restaurant. Well it was another thirty minutes before we were finally seated and some of us were eyeing the seagull bread as we waited. Norma’s restaurant has been featured in Sunset Magazine, Bon Appetite Magazine, and won an AAA award. Full and satisfied we headed back to our rooms for sleep and an early morning ride down the coast.

Thursday morning we pulled out of Seaside at 7:00 AM and stopped for breakfast at Manzanita. The local café had great food and service. We stopped in Tillamook but it was a little early for ice-cream. We took the self guided tour then headed back down the coast. The fog shrouded the trees in a ghostly outline as we took the twists and turns down the coast road. We took a break in Newport Beach to walk along the wharf, get a shot of caffeine, see the wax museum, and Lorie bought her taffy. Next stop was Florence for lunch and we found a little place that was almost closing for the day but gladly served us lunch with a smile on their faces and joked with us. We spent most of the day riding in a light fog all the way down the coast, finally finding sunshine before we arrived in Coos Bay. A pit stop for gas and we headed to the local Harley dealer. When you are on a bike you just need to stop and see what they have that is different, new, or must have. It was a nice break and now we were on our way to Roseburg to our hotel for the night. Misdirection by a not-so-nice local had us headed up the freeway to a wrong exit and then winding our way back through unfamiliar streets until we could see the hotel sign. It’s always one bad egg that causes a stink, but the hotel staff and the restaurant staff were nice and that (and our cocktail hour) made it all better.

Friday morning we had a continental breakfast at the hotel and then headed out. The morning was spent winding our way around the mountain road next to the Umpqua River. It was a beautiful ride and the river had small rapids, quiet ponds, and occasionally you would see a fisherman standing in the stream. Crater Lake loomed ahead of us and it is hard to image the enormity of it. I have flown over the lake numerous times going back and forth to California but up close it is breathtaking. We had lunch at the lodge before we headed down the south east side towards Klamath Falls and then headed north to Bend. Dave took us on a spiraling road to the top of Pilot Point where you can look out at the whole valley below and every way you turn there is a mountain to see. Bill ordered pizza and Caesar salads for an army while we sat around laughing and talking in Dave and Lorie’s hotel room. We sat in the hotel lobby breakfast area to eat dinner and tried our best to give away the extra food to anyone who wandered to close to our tables.

Rise and shine. Breakfast at the hotel and we were headed north to Mt. Hood. I always get a little nervous thinking about mountains and steep hillsides, even more so on a bike. The climb up Mt. Hood really wasn’t bad at all. Mostly trees and an occasional steep slope but the roads were wide and well maintained. The Timberline Lodge was majestic standing just above the tree line. It wasn’t very crowded and plenty of parking. We walked up a not so steep incline but wearing motorcycle boots is like wearing five pound weights on each foot and counting every step. In today’s world I don’t think you could every duplicate the craftsmanship that went into building the lodges that dot our national parks. The timbers came from old growth trees that mills don’t even have the machinery to cut now days. Skilled laborers, and locals who were trained, built and made everything in the lodge from the wrought iron hinges, fireplace screens, the benches, and woven floor to ceiling woolen drapes in Indian designs. It is definitely a bygone era that needs to be preserved and treasured.

Back down the mountain and over to Parkdale for lunch in a little converted gas station to café. Dave M. grew up in this area of the woods so he showed us where he used to fish and swim in the summers at Lost Lake (E-e-kwahl-a-mat-yam-lshkt, meaning “'heart of the mountains”) (Oregon has 19 lakes named Lost Lake) near the little town of Dee that is no more. The tree lined road gently took us upwards to a quiet little resort that was full up. We stopped for ice cream at the store and a photo opportunity of the most photographed spot of Mt. Hood. Back down to road and on to the Columbia River. We went through Mosier and stopped at the Rowena Crest for a brief rest and a view of the river below. This was the old road, named the King of Roads, along the Columbia River and the roads and rock walls were built by the WPA and it is considered one of the twenty-five most beautiful roads in America. We pulled into our hotel and as usual took our showers, had a cold drink, and Lorie had made dinner reservations at Romul’s, an Italian restaurant. Lots more laughter, stories, and memories to treasure.

Sunday morning we crossed back into Washington and drove west up the Columbia River before heading north into the Columbia River Gorge towards Mt. Adams. We stopped at Trout Lake for a quick break then up into the farm lands and winding, twisting roads that were both breathtaking and heart stopping at times. Down the tight and very narrow road, where the fog line on the other side of the road sometimes disappeared over the edge. We stopped in the old mill town of Klickitat for lunch. The mill is gone with only the cement floors remaining and some old rusted machinery left standing to the edges. We made a loop and headed north to the Maryhill Winery. They have a beautiful grass 4,000 seat outdoor amphitheater built into the sloping hillside where they hold outdoor concerts during the summer months. Musicians played on the garden terrace covered with grape laden arbors that led into the wine tasting room. We drove down the road to Stonehenge, a WWI monument dedicated to the local soldiers who lost their lives. It sits on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River and while it is an amazing sight to visit it is also a stark reminder that these men fought so that no one after them would have to sacrifice their lives; and yet memorials are still being built for each new war to honor the sacrifices of our young men and women. We were back to our hotel in time to take a short rest before meeting up for cold drinks, conversation and dinner. I can’t remember the name of the little restaurant where we had dinner, but the service was great and the servings were large.

Day six, Monday morning, and we are heading home. We were on the road by 7:00 AM and made good time. Usually on a Monday morning you have the typical big rigs crisscrossing the state to deliver goods and clogging up the roads. We must have been just ahead of them. We made a couple of pit stops before heading up the river road at Yakima towards Cle Elum where we gassed up. We headed up Blewett Pass and stopped at a little restaurant that Dave M. said serves the best meatloaf sandwich, so most of us sampled the recommendation. We slowed down for Leavenworth but didn’t stop; we were close to home and wanted to get over Stevens Pass and ahead of the commute traffic on Interstate 5. We dropped down on the other side of the pass, stopped for gas, cold drinks and removed some of the cold weather clothing we were still wearing. We took the direct route home which was stop and go in Monroe and then began the challenge of dealing with traffic and crazy drivers. Trying to keep four bikes together on the freeway in a staggered formation is pretty hard to do when cage drivers only care about where they want to be and think bikers should just move out of the way. One particular driver split the group, rode the bumper of Bill and Marla, honked when we passed him and found a safe distance to move back into the lane, moved over and up on Dave and Dawn when they also signaled and moved over; then the cage driver honked and moved his vehicle towards them. The driver backed off when he saw Dawn’s camera and we do have a picture of his license plate for proof of road rage.

The rest stop at Smokey Point couldn’t have come at a better time. Breath in, breath out...feel the tension leave… We were only about an hour away from home now. The ride home would be easier since most of the traffic was behind us now. Over Bow Hill and now we waved and pulled off one by one as friends headed on to our own homes.

It seems like longer than six days and yet I wasn’t ready for it to end, except of course I would have had to stop and do laundry someplace along the way if we had been gone any longer. Next year we will have the trike and I can pack more. Yipee! Next year? Wonder where we will go.

Kelly and Kyler

My daughter and my grandson.

Wednesday 7-29-09 art card donation

Wednesday Card - Be Yourself

Silk flower, eyelet paper trim, rub-ons, and an original poem.

Kyler O'Neal Danger Atkinson

The first Doctor appointment

Baby Atkinson is nine weeks and doing well. He or she has an arrival date of November 16th, 2009, which is my father’s birthday. If it is a boy, his middle name will be O’Neal, my father’s middle name, but it is also the middle name of my son Jim who Kelly will be giving the baby a name for.

Kyle heard the heart beat and Kelly said he freaked out, but in a good way. He hasn’t been around babies so all this is new to him, but he is being a very loving and supportive husband to Kelly. I am sure he will be a wonderful father.
Kelly wanted her grandmother to be the first to see the sonogram pictures and she emailed them today. Kelly said since I told her my mom is my best girlfriend then she picked my mom as her best girlfriend and she likes to tease me about it. We both win.

Sex

Kelly and Kyle have decided to let the doctors tell them the sex of the baby when she is far enough along to determine what the sex. I can hardly wait to buy pink, or blue, or green with flowers or monkeys, or whether the Harley outfit should have pink or blue on it. Not so fast.

Hiccups

Baby A had the hiccups when Kelly went to the doctor and it made it a little hard to hear the heartbeat because Baby A would move around so much. Kyle wasn’t sure hiccups were a good thing for his baby but Kelly assured him it was not different than one of them having hiccups.

Heartbeat

Baby A is 16 weeks and doing great. He or she does not like to have his heart heard. Every time the doctor thought she was ready to listen, baby A moved and hid. Eventually he/she was found and a strong healthy heartbeat was heard. This baby is already taking control. Watch out Kelly and Kyle.

Kicking…like dad

June 24th Kyle felt the baby move for the first time. A MMA fighter in the making.

Introducing: Kyler O’Neal Danger Atkinson

Today, June 30th, Kelly and Kyle found out the sex of baby A. It’s a boy. Kyler is strong and healthy and both parents are on cloud nine. Me too!

Wednesday Art Card Donation...Russian Doll

This is my Russian doll card for the Wednesday donation at Stampadoodle. She has felt flowers, glitter, ribbons, rickrack, fabric leaves, metal studs colored with alcohol inks, and wiggly eyes.

Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God.

From Boring Blue to Muddy Mississippi

We have begun the house project of 2009. Paint. No more boring, depressing blue. I like blue, don’t get me wrong. But a blue house, blue carpet, blue paint and blue wallpaper everywhere you look was way too much for me when we bought this house.

So one step at a time. Paint is cheap, at least a gallon or so at a time. I stripped all the blue wallpaper in the bedrooms before we moved in. Removed the frilly, not womanly feminine country (I love country but this was outdated country) curtains and painted our master bedroom cafe au lait with white trim and the master bath white. I’ve changed the bedding several times but the wall color always works.

Kelly’s bedroom had little lambs on a border and we got rid of that really fast and painted everything a clean white so her dark midnight blue moon and stars would show up better.

Michael had the pink room so we stripped it down and painted a clean white palette and gave it a more masculine look.

Then I had to take a break but after one winter in Washington with dark grey skies and overcast days, I broke out the paint brushes and painted the living room a pale creamy yellow. Funny, I didn’t even notice the blue rug anymore.

The old dining area, which is now a sitting area off the kitchen, became a shade darker yellow than the living room. And the best part was no more blue border. So that only left the kitchen, and the pantry which is sort of open to the kitchen. I spiced it up a bit and went for a French New Orleans bolder deeper yellow. Now the blue, yes I said blue, counter top looked almost grey not blue. The blue and white tiles sort of receded because the yellow color said look at me.

I used all three colors of yellow and sort of did a faux French painting technique in the entryway to get rid of yet another shade of blue. I went up the staircase with bright white paint to open it up and get rid of the dark dreaded, “what is at the top of the stairs feeling” all that “blue” paint gave the staircase.

Now that the kitchen looked brighter the cabinets looked horrible. Cha ching. Of course paint can fix almost anything. I painted all the base cabinets black after Larry added some additional trim molding so they weren’t flat fronts. New hardware from my favorite store…EBay. The kitchen island got hand painted doors with chicken, cows, sheep, and stars. I painted the upper cabinets red then Kelly helped me crackle them with a creamy white paint and then we glazed them to give them an aged look. New hardware and the whole kitchen looked fresh and clean. Five weeks from start to finish and a little paint.

While Kelly was gone one summer, I stripped the blue wallpaper out of her bathroom and painted the murky blue wall with bright white semi-gloss paint. Four coats is what it took to cover that horrible blue paint. Two coats of primer and two coats of paint. Wow. Four 100 watt bulbs really can light up a bathroom. Again the blue Formica counter tops looked almost grey and the dark midnight blue flooring was no longer shooting look at me. New rugs, new towels. Hallelujah the upstairs was done. That is if you don’t count the linen closet and the master bath linen closet which are peach and blue. Doors closed. Another day, another week.

This worked until the kids moved out and then it was time to mix it up again. The old sunroom became the new dining room. Hunting coat red went up on the walls with white paint on all the woodwork. Wow. What could I do next?!

The small guest bath downstairs. You guessed it. No more blue. I stripped layers of blue wallpaper, flower wallpaper, gunk, junk, and more paper..and then painted, I bought every craft size bottle of copper paint I could find in the county and mixed them (I couldn’t find anyone at that time who sold copper paint in quarts) and painted. New curtains--it was good…for now. Okay so paint did not distract you from the old white 1970’s cabinet with outdated hardware and fake marble Formica top. Another day, another dollar.

Onto bigger and better things:

The study, which we took on last fall. Stripped the old paper, rebuilt the fireplace wall and installed a new high efficiency gas fireplace that really warms the room, new flat screen TV for Larry, and paint. I used cream paint on the upper walls, mocha on the lower wall paneling, and the dining room red on the fireplace wall. Gone was fake stain to make the paneling look like oak, the busy border and one of the chair rail moldings was gone. The blue green wallpaper that covered the top half of the walls was gone as was the blue paint underneath, and the green we found, and the builder’s beige.

Well that only leave my studio left untouched by my paintbrush and it will have to wait a little longer. With a very large wire dog kennel that the dog sleeps in at night, and my stuff which I am sorting through to make the studio cleaner and more efficient, I will live with the grey green walls. Yes you heard me right. But underneath the grey green walls, lies a shade of blue. I removed an ugly yellow ceramic duck head towel holder and what did I behold…blue paint. I’ll just hang a picture and wait. But I do know the paint color my room aspires to be someday-- Shimmering white with a pearlescent sheen. Black and white hounds tooth curtains, white sheers (I already have those up), and two new cream shabby chic work tables already in use; and the ugly white fan (you just cannot use a fan in an art studio with lots of bits and pieces of paper, gold leafing, glitter, etc.) will come down to be replaced by a crystal chandelier with a drum shade. I can see it now.

But right now what I see is the outside of my home that is crying out, paint me. Now! Bob Gibbons the painter, the Harley friend, the nice guy, power washed the house and said you really need to do this now before it gets worse. Okay. We finally agreed on a set of colors, muddy Mississippi for the main body of the house, French cream for the trim, India ink for the shutters, and cranberry bog red for the front door. Ready set go. Not so fast. Prep work. Stop! Houston we have a problem… Seems the old LP siding is finally wearing out. Okay it’s really all a disaster…Bob could push a finger through some of it. So Bob called his carpenter friend to check it out and hopefully it would be just a matter of new siding with no damage underneath, and maybe we caught it early. Just new siding will still set us back a thousand dollars, or so, more than we had planned to spend but there isn’t much we can do about it. Better to fix it now than have to come back and do it later and paint again.

June 12th, Friday morning, Bob was ready to go. He sprayed the porch roof the cream white and already the house has begun to look newer. The front of the house is prepped and all the extra Victorian doodad trim has been removed, plastic covers everything not to be painted and the paint sprayer was turned on. Wow. My little blue country farm house is metamorphosing into a sleek, updated, modern, contemporary county home.

Let’s see? It has taken me ten years to paint all but one room inside the house so if the outside of the house had been left up to me, it might have taken me another ten years to complete it. Better to leave some things to the experts who are quick and efficient. Good thing we have a friend who is a painter.

Well it was all moving so smoothly. That should have been the warning signal…Trouble under the bedrooms windows in the front of the house. When we first moved in one window wall was damp. It dried up in a few day and no more problems. Well, just no problems that we could see. Bob called his friend Bill and what was to be a replacement of some bad siding became a complete tear out of the upper part of the house. Between building codes being different from 1974 to today, to previous contractor shortcuts, siding that is known to fail, no weather sheathing, and windows that were installed improperly, a simple paint job morphed into a major remodel of the front of the house upstairs. Thought that was it? No! The wood door between the house, the garage, and the sporting goods room that at one time was used as a passageway to the backyard, was rotten and the hardware was rusted and couldn’t be removed. We decided that since we never use the door, we had Bill remove it, replaced the door with siding, sealing the doorway off, and cut off the old hardware. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

Dry rot on Monday, so on Tuesday the windows were removed, and the framing is being rebuilt and the damaged wood removed. We have had 28 days of no rain and now it looks like that is about to change which means the work is on hold and the paint will also have to wait. One window is back in, and one window is covered with plywood. The inside of both bedroom walls will probably have to be patched and painted but that will probably be a nice winter painting project for me.

If the rain holds off, the shop is sort of ready to go. We knew one panel of siding needed to be replaced but we found a second panel and another one needs to be renailed. Larry and I took the truck up to the back yard and pulled out 7 beautiful elderberry trees that sprung up from small shrubs last year that we hadn’t even noticed, and had become full blown 15 foot trees right up against the back of the shop. Sad they couldn’t be saved. Sadder still is all the perennials that had to be cut down so that Bob could paint the shop. At least they will grow back even though they won’t bloom this year. So if the weather holds Bob will begin painting the shop cranberry bog red tomorrow. I guess the bonus in all of this is the weeds are being removed at a much faster speed because of the painting.

Amazing what paint can do to a home. Now that the old shutters have been removed, the house is sporting a fresh new color of paint, and the windows trimmed out they way they should have been, we aren’t going to put the new black shutters up. The house looks so clean and pretty and I don’t want to mess up the look with fussy shutters. We do have new black coach lanterns on the front of the house and the back deck. Last night we heard a loud crash and Larry went to investigate with Deuce the brave dog, and when he flipped on the porch light, wow, a new 100 watt bulb, the porch ceiling painted the creamy white and you could actually see outside. Turns out it was just one of the unused shutters that had blown over making the loud crashing sound.

The trim is being finished on the house and the shop. The torn off old siding has been removed and disposed of. The cupola on top of the shop has been repaired and all the windows trimmed out with new wood. The house and the garden finally look like they fit together.

The front door is being painted the same cranberry bog red as the shop. It’s going to say to say welcome to all our guests who come to visit. Of course the weather has turned and it is rainy and windy and the front doors are wide open to allow the paint to dry and cure. This is coat one of three. I teased in an email to friends that we may have to leave the doors wide open all night and sit by them to guard from pesky intruders, like skunks, stray cats, or opossums.

Bob painted the new wood house numbers and put them up this morning and now the UPS and FedEx delivery people will know exactly which house is 2612. Of course we can no longer tell people to turn onto Nubgaard and we are the third house on the left, just look for the blue house, because it is no longer blue. Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!

I will work on the front porch and back deck this summer to refinish them with a fresh coat of stain and we will do a more yard clean up. I need to trim the rhododendrons and putty and paint the front porch posts but this will be part of my summer project, one that I need to do quickly so the house looks completed. Maybe next year we will build the porch railing.

Carpenter Bill (who at heart is an arborist) is going to come next week and trim the big pine tree on the East side of the house, remove the pine needles off the roof, and clean the gutters which are full of needles. He said he will also take care of my big red leaf maple out front that lost three limbs from the hard winter we had this year.

Anniversary Flowers

Every year for our anniversary, Larry gives me a dozen red roses and a yellow rose for each year we have been married. He also give me a real rose dipped in real gold for each year we have been married. I am the luckiest girl because he loves me...forever and ever...body and soul.

June 14th was our 11th anniversary.

Happy Birthday Kyle

Make a Smilebox postcard

DeVine Gardens...Custer, WA

Several months ago Larry and I attended an auction for the Herman Miller 4-H Park www.hermanmiller4hpark.webs.com, which several of our friends support.

We won three auction items that night, two for Larry and the one I wanted really badly, the DeVine Gardens www.devinegardens.com weekly fresh produce. From mid May through the growing season into the fall, we will pick up a twenty pound box of fresh produce every weekend at the Ferndale Farmers Market. I love vegetables and it will be fun to see what we get and how we can use it that week. While Larry is not a vegetable consumer, I am sure he is going to learn to love vegetables and get healthier while he eats them.

Kirk and Jeri Hayes who own DeVine Gardens were busy working in the fields when we first tried to call them to see what we needed to do to arrange to pick up the vegetables. Two weeks ago as we returned from a Harley ride, the market was just closing so we stopped by in full leathers to chat. Kirk said just to drop by on Saturdays or if we wanted, come out to the farm and he would be happy to get us started on our gourmet adventure.

So Saturday I made my first trip to the market and they loaded me up with asparagus, endive, lettuce, onions, garlic, broccoli, and English peas. There is nothing like the smell and taste of fresh, just out of the garden veggies. It reminds me of when I was a child in Oklahoma and my parents always had a small garden that we tended in the evenings after my dad got off work. I fixed a vegetable stir fry with lemon sauce and fried rice for dinner on Saturday night. Michael came out Sunday evening for several bags of vegetables while we were at our small group meeting where we also shared fresh asparagus with our friends. Larry will also take a sampling of veggies to his mother this week.
I can’t wait to see what we get next week and what kind of recipes we find to cook all these vegetables with.

Farm Town

I found this vintage royalty free image and it just sort of fits all of those who are now farming on Facebooks Farm Town game.

More of Richard's Art

After we all ohhhhh and ahhhhed over the birdhouses that Richard made for my mother, he had to make one for Mary.

The frog was given to my mom years ago by my nephew James and was sort of looking a little shabby. Richard decided that she could use a face lift one afternoon. Just look at her now.

Wednesday Art Card Donation...Stampadoodle

Richard Jordan...artist extraordinaire

Richard Jordan is a friend of my sister Mary and is a multi talented artist. He finds everyday items and unusual castoffs and turns them into beautiful works of art. He makes drawings that he leaves as thank you notes. Richard can decorate a room that looks like it belongs on HGTV and my sister’s house is a showpiece every year at Christmas.

Richard loves to garden and tenderly cares for both my sister’s garden and my mothers. He will show up at my mothers without her knowing it on a day he wasn’t scheduled to work and plant a few flowers and be gone as fast as he arrived. Sometimes he works for hours, losing track of time, only thinking of completing the task before him. He never complains about any job and my mother always has southern sweet tea waiting for him and some sort of homemade baked goods. He has a real sweet tooth.

For mother’s day he took five ordinary wood bird houses and turned them into works of art. We were all so stunned at what he could do in just a few hours. My sister Mary has been trying to get him to sell some of his art because they are unique pieces that you can’t find or buy in any store.

The little eggs were Easter gifts that Richard made for my mother and sister.
So if anyone is interested in a owing a piece of Richards art, send me a comment and I will put you in touch with my sister Mary.

In The Hood...A Mother's Day Present

My oldest son, Jim, is a police officer in Sacramento California and I have always wanted to do a ride-a-long with him. Several times we have set it up and something unexpected has happened and I have had to cancel out. This year I was going to be in CA for mother’s day with my mom who will be turning a young ninety-three in June so I planned a few extra days so that I could do my long awaited ride-a-long.
I drove up to Jim’s home on Friday morning on May 7th and we went out to lunch and then stopped by and took lunch to his girlfriend Heather before it was time to go to work. Jim works on the Southside of Sacramento in what his cousin Mike (he works as a correction officer for the State of CA) refers to as the hood. Mike laughed when he found out I was going out on a Friday night with Jim and said to be prepared because you never knew what would happen.

We pulled into the secure parking lot at the station and Jim unloaded several bags of his gear into the car we would be patrolling in that night. We then pulled up to the building and unloaded two sheet cakes and three dozen muffins that I had brought to share with Jim’s co-workers. Jim said his co-workers/friends had a sweet tooth and I wanted to do something nice for them. We parked the car and then Jim left me in the roll call room while he went to change and get ready.

I met several of his friends and they all asked me if I was excited and ready to go out. They wanted to know why I wanted to do a ride-a-long, and I told them I wanted to know what Jim’s job was like. Soon the room was filling up with uniformed officers, all taking a seat to get ready for the sergeant and roll call. I was asked to stand and introduce myself at the end and tell why I was there. This was my mother’s day gift for me, to watch my son on a typical Friday night on the Sacramento Police Force. For me, the joy was to see my child, grown up and doing what he has always wanted, and knowing I succeeded as a mother in helping him realize his dream.

We took the last of the equipment out to the car and Jim made sure everything was ready to go as he snapped the shotgun in place between us. I asked if there was a panic button and he showed me where it was. He then explained about the onboard cameras, computer, and radio equipment. Wow! It’s not like the old movies where the police just jumped into a car and sped away when they were called. Today is high tech with new equipment being updated to protect the officers and provide information in case of an arrest.

Our first assignment was to take a prisoner, being brought in from the previous shift to the jail, to reduce overtime cost. The evidence was left at the station to be logged and sent later with the report the arresting officer wrote up. Jim placed his handcuffs on the suspect before the other officer’s handcuffs were removed and then the woman was placed in the back seat of our car. It wasn’t the suspect’s first time in a police cruiser or the judicial system, but she wasn’t fighting or complaining--just taking it all in stride, and as a matter of fact. We arrived at the county jail downtown Sacramento and waited for the security camera to verify who we were and then the large gray oversized roll-up doors began to ascend and we drove into the dark cavernous parking garage. The first order of business is to leave all weapons, guns, mace, stun gun, etc, locked in the trunk of the vehicle for everyone’s safety. We entered through a secure door and into the medical unit. The suspect was asked about medical history, illnesses, drug use, alcohol use, and women’s medical issues. I had to look away when she received a tetanus shot, not just because I hate needles, but the thought of the shot was causing her distress and I felt empathy for her as she was almost in tears. We moved back out to the computer station for Jim to finish his paperwork and then the prisoner was searched and photographed before she would be booked into jail. Jim said she would probably be in quarantine for up to twenty-four hours before being put in with the regular prison population.

Back out to the car and on the streets. Jim checked his computer to see what was happening in his sector-- B4. There are six sectors in the city and each is divided into three sections. It was early on Friday and it was quiet so we met up with his partner, Khang, to arrange a probation warrant arrest. Each team has been asked to take on a project to help improve their sector and, in turn, improve the city. A small apartment complex is what they are working on as they are trying to be a friendly face in the community and keep the residents safe. Another team joined us so there were a total of four officers responding to a suspect with outstanding warrants. I was allowed to get out of the car and go with them, just to hang back a little until given the okay to proceed with them. The renter allowed the officers into her home but said she didn’t know the suspect. After a quick search of the apartment, with her approval, and after verifying some personal information, we left. The children all smiled as we walked by and they played in the parking lot--and that is positive.

There was a call about a resident who assaulted his caregivers. This was not the first time the police had been called to this address. Everyone was calm when we arrived. The resident had taken his medication before we arrived and the caregivers did not want to press charges. Jim and his partner talked to the resident and made sure he understood what could happen to him and what his caregivers did not want to happen to him. The caregivers were told what their options were.

As we left to cruise the streets, an accident report came across the radio. Jim checked the location and radioed that we were on our way. Both cars had been driven to the side of the road and a fire truck was blocking one lane until the police arrived. No injuries, just lots of glass shards covering four lanes of traffic and broken automobile parts dangling from both vehicles. Jim’s partner began interviewing one of the drivers and Jim spoke with the other driver. They checked both vehicles for damage, talked with witnesses, and checked the scene of the accident. They told both drivers how accidents were handled in Sacramento, to contact their insurance agents, and gave them each cards with information to obtain police records in about two weeks. We stayed at the scene until both vehicles were towed.

In some parts of this sector, the houses and building windows are covered with bars to keep intruders out. Some businesses hire armed and unarmed security companies to patrol their business to keep them and their customers safe. Other parts of the same sector have older, well maintained homes, the lawns groomed, and large shade trees line the streets. It was while patrolling through one of these neighborhoods that Jim noticed an older Ford Bronco with a missing front plate. Jim ran the rear plate and found that it was registered to someone on parole. As the vehicle pulled into a driveway, Jim radioed in his location, told me to stay in the patrol car as he approached the vehicle with his hand on his gun. At this moment I looked at the situation sitting there in the car realize that my child is all grown up and ready to draw a gun if need be. Technology is so sophisticated in today’s world, but it still has glitches, like the couple of seconds the dispatchers couldn’t hear Jim on his radio and you can hear them calling out to him. It was strange to hear my son’s voice over the radio letting dispatch know he was okay and his partner had arrived. She immediately stood to one side of Jim, backing him up with her hand on her gun ready to draw if needed. The driver was asked to exit the vehicle and was then handcuffed and searched. A small plastic bag was found in one pocket which was secured as evidence and the suspect was put in the patrol car. His car was searched for drugs and no warrants came back on the driver. His driver’s license had expired and Jim confiscated it, and his registration was out of date. Jim and his partner determined the amount of marijuana was less than the state codes for arrest and wrote citations for the other items and released the driver. The drugs were weighed, logged, and recorded for evidence, then sealed in envelopes with tamper-proof tape.

A call came in asking for back up for another accident. One officer was already at the scene and Jim and his partner both responded. The first officer was flagged down by a citizen to report an earlier hit and run accident when a second victim stopped to report another accident that had also happened earlier in the day. Jim took care of the second victim while his partner and the first officer tried to get all the details on the first call. #2 was taken care of and left just as a citizen approached the other two officers to report someone had abandoned a vehicle that looked like it had been in accident several blocks away and matched the description of the hit and run. We stayed with #1 while the other officers went to see if the car was still parked. They radioed that the victim should follow us to ID the car in question; and it was. So one accident that happens in another part of town #1, moves a few blocks down before the driver flees #2, the victim flags down an officer at another location several hours later #3, and then they find the hit and run car blocks away #4. What are the odds in a city this size and hours after an accident that you could find the other car? Well the only thing that might be stranger is that at an hour and a half after we had been on the scene and were about to finish up paper work with four officers working this accident, a car pulls up and the hit and run driver gets out and walks down the street and says, “I did it, I’m sorry.” So much for being through with this accident. The officers interviewed the driver, asked his family, who had come with him for support, to move back to their vehicle and tried to sort out all the details. The victim from the hit and run was overly excited that the police found the driver, and she sent her mother to bring her family to the scene. It could have been a volatile situation but both parties just wanted to get the facts sorted out and no one yelled or got angry. In the end it will be up to the insurance companies to sort out who did what to cause the accident and who will be responsible. It is not always black and white when you first look at something. You need to ask questions, and sometimes ask again, before you can see the bigger picture.

Well, most restaurants in this part of town are closed at 9:30 PM or had stopped taking orders. As Jim and his partner sat in a parking lot doing reports and seeing if they needed to respond to any other calls, it happened to be the same parking lot of the restaurant where we had planned to meet my nephew Mike and his wife, Tiffeny, for dinner earlier. Life as a police officer does not revolve around set schedules for dinner once you are out on the street. We said hello, gave a hug, and then we were off patrolling again. It was quiet for a Friday night so Jim asked permission to take a dinner break. We ordered a pizza which we took back to the station and shared with several other officers.

The last call of the evening was a citizen who was wandering around a parking lot and the security guard was worried about her. She didn’t seem to respond to Jim when he called her by name as he approached her and she looked dazed and lost. She didn’t want to go home; she didn’t have any money, no place to stay for the night, no family to call, and no more options. Jim’s partner tried talking to her but with the same conclusion. They couldn’t turn her lose and have her turn up as a missing person or worse. She didn’t want to talk about why she didn’t want to go home, so they had no choice but to send her to the mental health hospital. She had been on medication, but her insurance had not started before she ran out of medicine, and by the time the insurance began she had been off the medicine several weeks and was lost again in a world she couldn’t control. Since it was almost the end of our shift, someone from the graveyard shift transported the citizen to the hospital, again to save overtime in an ever tightening budget in not just California, but every city and state.

The evening ended as it began, with a woman in crisis but at very different levels of understanding and control of their world around them. As a Christian I found it very hard to think of women, children, and families all over the United States dealing with violence either by their hand or at the hand of someone else. Health care does not exist for a large majority of the population and without it they are caught in vicious circle that ends badly, in many instances. Police men and women have sworn to protect and help the communities they work in, and yet have to fight every day some of those same people who are looking for an easy way out.

My night on the streets was probably a typical night. No lights and sirens, no big drug busts, no shoot outs, or high speed chases, just the everyday struggles the people in these neighborhoods live with. This was just one ten hour shift in a four day work week for my son. I’m thankful I could share a few hours to see what his job and that of his fellow officers is like. They are everyday people, like everyone else, just trying to make a positive difference.

He's for hire...

Yes ladies he does dishes, barbeques, and can paint your house.

This is my newphew "James"

Flying with Sammy Hagar

I was on my way home yesterday from the San Francisco bay area where I spent mother's day with my mom and family.

I was almost ready to board my Alaska Airlines plane when some curly blonde haired guy goes cutting in line and waving to everyone. I thought he looks like a old rocker, but couldn't see his face.

When I finally got on the plane, there he was sitting in the very first seat, waving and talking to everyone. I was right...Sammy Hagar.

When was the last time you heard that name? But the face and the hair, you will always remember.

Happy Mothers Day...Mom

Make a Smilebox greeting

Mothers Day Poppers

These little poppers are made from a cardstock tube, fabric scraps, bits of ribbons, felt flowers, a little sparkle fiber, and filled with Almond Roca.

I made one for my mom and one for my sister who I will be celebrating mothers day with this year.